MAD MEN Vietnam Protest in the Golden Age of Advertising
How two Pratt alumni helped change the face of advertising and, just possibly, the course of war in Vietnam By Elizabeth Randolph
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hings began to change in 1960s America. Racial tensions simmered to a boil as black citizens demanded equality and the status quo resisted. Women, too, were finding their voices and demanding a place at the table. A series of assassinations left the country in mourning and the war in Vietnam tested its patience. Mass communication was undergoing its own reformation. For the first time in history, war was being broadcast—in horrifying detail— to television sets in living rooms across the country. Newspapers and magazines carried graphic photographs and descriptions of the “real war” that flew in the face of romantic or detached views of noble conflict.
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